The countdown to the long overdue appointment of a new BJP president began on Thursday with the RSS brass assembled in Delhi and expected to hold the final round of discussions with the BJP leadership to pick a consensus candidate.
The BJP has suggested two names to the RSS, those of Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan and environment minister Bhupender Yadav, party sources said. The Sangh is likely to communicate its views after discussions on Thursday and Friday.
Three rounds of meetings have so far failed to get the BJP and its ideological parent to agree on a name. Reports say the Sangh has been insisting on having a “strong organisational leader” and not a “rubber stamp” for Prime Minister Narendra Modi and home minister Amit Shah.
The first meeting took place in January this year, sources said, and was followed by an unusual outreach from Modi in the form of a visit to the Sangh’s Nagpur headquarters in March. This was widely seen as an effort by the Prime Minister to cajole the Sangh into accepting a BJP president of his choice.
The Sangh’s senior leadership, including RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat and general secretary Dattatreya Hosabale, are in Delhi for a three-day conference of the prant pracharaks (provincial publicists) that began on Thursday.
“The BJP general secretary (organisation), B.L. Santosh, will participate in the conference and the Sangh leaders will communicate their view (on the choice of BJP president) after a discussion on the sidelines of the event,” an RSS leader said.
Both Pradhan and Yadav are known to be “very close” to Shah, which the Sangh leadership might consider a disqualification, RSS sources said.
However, both candidates are also known for their organisational experience and deep association with the Sangh. Both are OBCs — thereby satisfying the requirements of political symbolism at a time the government has decided on having a caste enumeration during the population census.
Their relative youth ticks another box — the Sangh wants the party organisation strengthened ahead of the 2029 Lok Sabha polls.
Current BJP president J.P. Nadda’s term expired in January 2023 but he has been continuing on extension, with the BJP and RSS leaderships unable to arrive at an agreement over who should succeed him.
An RSS source, however, refused to rule out the Sangh leadership eventually buckling before Modi if the Prime Minister puts his foot down.
“The Sangh may not be very happy with Pradhan and Yadav but could give its nod if the message from the BJP is that Modi wants one of them to lead the party,” an RSS insider said.
“The RSS will not go to the extent of annoying Modi to get a BJP president of its choice.”
Sources said Nadda had held a hush-hush meeting with the RSS leadership on June 28 in Delhi, ostensibly to communicate Modi’s views on who should be the next party chief. Bhagwat and Hosabale, the two top RSS leaders, have been in Delhi since June 28.
BJP and RSS leaders have indicated that the “election” of a new party president — in effect a selection, as the intent is to pick a single consensus candidate — would be wrapped up before the monsoon session of Parliament begins on July 21.
“Most likely, the election of a new BJP chief would take place on July 11, the first day of the auspicious month of Shravan,” a BJP leader said.